PHILADELPHIA — For a few minutes Tuesday afternoon, it seemed as if the Phillies might have started their July sell-off.

Word out of Allentown was that Darin Ruf wasn’t in the Triple-A Lehigh Valley’s lineup and was heading down the Northeast Extension to Philly. When the Phillies came out of the clubhouse to do their pregame stretch, outfielder/first baseman John Mayberry Jr. was nowhere to be found. The Phillies hadn’t made an announcement of a roster move, but the Yankees were said to be interested in Mayberry as a right-handed bat off the bench.

It was a false alarm. Minutes after Ruf came running out of the dugout tunnel and joined batting practice, the Phillies announced that Mayberry had been placed on the 15-day disabled list with an inflamed left wrist and that Ruf was back with the team after recovering from a wrist injury of his own.

It has been a painful season for Ruf both physically and from a timing standpoint. He has had just 143 plate appearances at all levels thanks to a strained oblique suffered late in spring training, then a sprained and fractured wrist that occurred June 1, a day after the Phillies had sent him down because he wasn’t getting enough playing time during a two-week stint in the majors.

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“It definitely has been a mentally challenging season for me,” Ruf said. “That has been the toughest thing -- trying to stay positive through all the injuries. It’s the first time I’ve ever had to deal with injuries, so hopefully it’s the last time I have to.”

If not for his lost battle with the wall down the left-field line at Lehigh Valley, Ruf certainly would have been back with the Phillies a while ago. As the Phils went into a full collapse, the players at the positions Ruf plays -- Domonic Brown in left and Ryan Howard at first base -- had miserable statistics and were in position to be platooned.

Considering Brown already has started splitting time with Grady Sizemore and Howard’s hitting stats continue to sag, it seems likely that Ruf will get a chance to salvage something from this season.

“I have to think that way,” Ruf said when asked if there was enough time left for him to progress. “There are two months left, and two months is all that I’ve got, so I have to try and make the most of it. It’s definitely enough time to get some games under my belt.”

Ruf started slowly at the plate when he returned to action at the start of the month, but he went 6-for-12 with three doubles in his last three games with the Iron Pigs.

“I’ve felt a lot more comfortable in the box the last few days,” Ruf said. “I felt like I was changing something almost daily so I could get a feeling of consistency and (rediscover) what I felt when I have swung the bat well.

“It seems like the more I swing the bat the more it is loosened up ... The whip your hands and wrists create in the swing, I just needed to get that back.”

Ruf would like to finish the final two months of the season with enough momentum to forget his nightmarish first half, but hinted that he is considering a return trip to the Venezuelan Winter League if he feels a need to keep sharpening his skills.

“Whether I have to play more at the end of the year to keep improving, keep getting better, I’ll make that decision when the times comes,” said Ruf, who hit .247 with 14 homers and a .806 OPS in 293 plate appearances with the Phils last season. “But I definitely want to take advantage of the next two months.”

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The Phillies involved in trade rumors seems to be going in cycles, with each available player having his name under the microscope for a couple of days.

First Marlon Byrd, then Jonathan Papelbon, and A.J. Burnett, and Cliff Lee. The guy creating the most buzz Tuesday was southpaw reliever Antonio Bastardo, who is both cheap ($2 million salary in 2014, with one more arbitration year to come) and effective (a 2.00 ERA in his last 26 appearances, with just 11 hits allowed in 27 innings during that stretch).

Teams like the Royals, Pirates and Brewers would love to add Bastardo to their modest payrolls, but there are a few other contenders (Braves, Angels, Cardinals) who could use some relief help from the left side of the rubber.

Ryne Sandberg heaped praise of Bastardo like a used-car salesman with a lot of highest-sales plaques hanging on his office wall.

“I remember just a couple outings where he struggled,” Sandberg said of Bastardo. “Other than that he’s rebounded very well and been very consistent for a long period of time.

“He has been equally effective against left-handed and right-handed batters. He’s done a nice job.”

Bastardo is one of the stingiest pitchers in baseball when it comes to giving up hits. Over the last four seasons he ranks sixth among relievers with a .181 opposing hitters’ average (minimum 100 IP).

If anything, Bastardo’s numbers are hurt by the fact that when there’s a night he doesn’t have things working, it tends to get ugly. Eleven of the 16 earned runs he’s allowed this season have come in three of his 43 appearances.

“That doesn’t happy very often,” the used-car salesman said. “He usually has it. and when he mixes his pitches so well, his slider is very effective, his changeup is good, his fastball is deceptive. He’s in a groove now where he does have it, and that’s a good thing.”

It would be better if the Phillies can land a decent prospect in return for him.